Putin’s electoral rating doubles in 2014

Some 82 percent of Russians with firm political preferences say they would vote for Vladimir Putin if a presidential poll were to be held on the nearest weekend, according to the latest research by independent pollster the Levada Center.

Of all people who took part in the poll, 52 percent said they
were ready to vote for Putin. In January 2014, the share of such
people was about 29 percent and that means that Vladimir Putin’s
presidential rating has doubled over almost seven months.

Putin’s closest contenders were the head of the Communist Party
Gennady Zyuganov who got seven percent of potential votes and the
leader of the populist nationalist party LDPR Vladimir
Zhirinovsky with 5 percent. Current Russian Prime Minister Dmitry
Medvedev, who was President between 2008 and 2012, currently has
only 2 percent of supporters.

Another influential sociological think-tank, the Public Opinion
Foundation, conducted similar research in early August which
found that 68 percent of all potential voters were ready to
support Putin at presidential elections, compared to 58 percent
in March and 46 percent in January.

Also in early August, the Levada Center published the results of
the poll in which it questioned Russians about their appraisal of
Vladimir Putin’s policy as the country’s leader. Eighty-seven
percent of those polled said they approved of the president’s
actions. This was also an increase compared to 83 percent in May
and 72 percent in March.

Deputy Director of the Levada Center Aleksey Grazhdankin told the
press that a possible explanation for the current boost of
Vladimir Putin’s popularity was the extreme politicization of
everyday people’s lives, caused by the Ukrainian crisis and the
subsequent Western sanctions against Russia.

At the end of July, the overwhelming popular support of Russia’s
official stance prompted a group of journalists from several Far
East regions to lodge an official proposal to award Vladimir
Putin with the honorary title of ‘Hero of Russia’. In their
request the reporters mentioned Putin’s uncompromising defense of
the national interest and support of ethnic Russians as well as
for supporting freedom of speech.